Inhibition of cytoadherence in resting and stimulated skin grafts by PpMC-179 in vivo.

PpMC-179 (2 μM) in a volume of 100 μL was administered intravenously into the SCID mouse with an unstimulated or TNF-α–stimulated (100 ng intradermally, 4 hours) human skin graft. The peptide was allowed to circulate for 10 minutes before IRBCs were injected. (A) PpMC-179 significantly inhibited the adhesion of parasite isolate P00-24 (n = 13 for baseline and 8 with PpMC-179) and P99-14 (n = 6 for baseline and 5 with PpMC-179) in unstimulated skin grafts. **P < .01 and ***P < .001 compared to baseline. (B) Rolling flux fraction of parasite isolate P00-24 was increased but not P99-14. *P < .05 compared to baseline. (C) In TNF-α–stimulated skin grafts, there was a dramatic inhibition of IRBC adhesion of both parasite isolate P00-24 (n = 14 for TNF-α alone and 10 for TNF-α + PpMC-179) and P99-14 (n = 3 for TNF-α alone and 5 for TNF-α + PpMC-179) . ***P < .001 compared to TNF-α. (D) The reduction in adhesion was associated with an increase in rolling flux fraction for parasite isolate P00-24. **P < .01 compared to TNF-α.